MOTHERS OF WONDER AND AWE

Sermon Notes, May 10, 2015

Rev. Dick Guizar

            Rev. Guizar’s message was titled “Mothers of Wonder and Awe,” and his scripture foundation was Exodus 20:12—“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” 
            Mother’s Day means a lot.  Anna Jarvis campaigned to have a day set aside to honor mothers, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday honoring mothers.
            There’s one word common in all cultures, mama, the word for mother.  The last words of many hardened soldiers on the battlefield are “Mother.”  Football players dedicate games to mom.  One 49-year-old columnist wrote that he wished he was old enough to be immune to the need for mom.  The Northern Pacific Railroad postcard from 1916 expressed the sentiment: the best mother who ever lived is the one in your heart.
            There are many special moms—stepmoms, grandmas, mothers-in-law.  Pastor Guizar told of his mother-in-law, age 102, who has been another mother to him since his own mother died in 1971.  His mother raised 7 children alone after their father left.  She told her boys that she had 6 boys so they could be her pall bearers, and that is what happened.
            Grandmas are another kind of special mom.  They can correct their grandchildren, but nobody else had better try it!  They can go out onto the field after a football game in order to see their grandson, and not even the coach will object.
            The church wouldn’t exist without moms/ women.  They have kept it going over the years, doing many jobs, some of them thankless.  There are many women of power and strength.

If we could speak to our moms who have already passed from this life, what would we say?  Would we apologize for all the times we hurt her?  Would we hug her one more time?   Men put moms on a throne.  Women, don’t abdicate your throne!

           Mother’s Day means a lot.  Anna Jarvis campaigned to have a day set aside to honor mothers, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday honoring mothers.
            There’s one word common in all cultures, mama, the word for mother.  The last words of many hardened soldiers on the battlefield are “Mother.”  Football players dedicate games to mom.  One 49-year-old columnist wrote that he wished he was old enough to be immune to the need for mom.  The Northern Pacific Railroad postcard from 1916 expressed the sentiment: the best mother who ever lived is the one in your heart.
            There are many special moms—stepmoms, grandmas, mothers-in-law.  Pastor Guizar told of his mother-in-law, age 102, who has been another mother to him since his own mother died in 1971.  His mother raised 7 children alone after their father left.  She told her boys that she had 6 boys so they could be her pall bearers, and that is what happened.
            Grandmas are another kind of special mom.  They can correct their grandchildren, but nobody else had better try it!  They can go out onto the field after a football game in order to see their grandson, and not even the coach will object.
            The church wouldn’t exist without moms/ women.  They have kept it going over the years, doing many jobs, some of them thankless.  There are many women of power and strength.

If we could speak to our moms who have already passed from this life, what would we say?  Would we apologize for all the times we hurt her?  Would we hug her one more time?   Men put moms on a throne.  Women, don’t abdicate your throne!